President's Remarks in Gainesville, Florida
University Air Center
Gainesville, Florida

4:25 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. (Applause.) Thank you all for
coming. So Jeb said, why don't we go to Gainesville, maybe a couple
hundred will show up and say hello. I said, well, I'm more than
willing to go. I can't thank you all enough for coming. Thanks for
taking time -- (applause.) Thanks for taking time out of our Sunday
afternoon. You're lifting our spirits, and we appreciate it.
(Applause.)

I'm here to ask for your vote and your help. I'm here to get you
to -- ask you to take your friends and neighbors to the polls. Remind
them we have a duty in our free country to vote. We have an obligation
in my judgment to participate in our democratic system. Now, when
you're lining up votes, of course, look for our fellow Republicans and
independents. But don't forget to get discerning Democrats to go to
the polls, people like Senator Zell Miller, from right north of here.
(Applause.) And when you get them headed to the polls, remind them, if
they want a safer America, a stronger America, and a better America, to
put me and Dick Cheney back in office. (Applause.)

Perhaps the most important reason of all to put me back in is so
that Laura is the First Lady for four more years. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE: Laura! Laura! Laura!

THE PRESIDENT: I'm proud of my running mate, Dick Cheney. I don't
want to offend anybody here who's follically challenged, but I readily
concede my running mate doesn't have the waviest hair in the race.
(Laughter.) But I suspect the people of north-central Florida are
going to be pleased to know I didn't pick him because of his hairdo.
(Applause.) I picked him because of his judgment; I picked him because
of his experience. He's getting the job done for the American people.
(Applause.)

I'm proud of brother, Jeb. What a great Governor. (Applause.)
And what a great brother. Jeb and I share the same campaign consultant
-- Mother. (Laughter.) And my brother, Marvin, is with us, too. I'm
proud Marv is here. Thanks for coming, Marvin. (Applause.) I love my
family, and I'm glad that -- I'm a fortunate man to have such a great
family.

Listen, I want to urge you, when you go to the polls, to vote for
Mel Martinez for the next senator of your state. (Applause.) I know
him well. He'll make a great United States senator for Florida.
(Applause.) I want to thank Congressman Cliff Stearns for joining us
today. He does a great job for the people of this part of the world.
(Applause.) I want to thank all the other candidates, people running
for office. I want to thank Carole Jean Jordan and all the grassroots
activists who are here. I want to thank the Bellamy Brothers for being
here. I'm proud to call them friend. I'm glad they are here.
(Applause.)

I want to thank you for what you have done. It takes a lot of work
to turn out a crowd this big. I want to thank you for what you're
going to do -- call your friends, call your neighbors, turn them out.
We'll carry Florida again and win a great victory on Tuesday.
(Applause.)

This election takes place in a time of great consequence. The
person who sits in the Oval Office for the next four years will set the
course on the war on terror and the direction of our economy. America
will need strong, determined, optimistic leadership, and I am ready for
the work ahead. (Applause.)

My four years as your President have confirmed some lessons and
have taught me some new ones. I've learned to expect the unexpected,
because war can arrive quietly on a quiet morning. I have learned
firsthand how hard it is to send young men and women into battle, even
when the cause is right. I am grateful for the lessons I've learned
from my parents: respect every person, do your best, live every day to
its fullest. I have been strengthened by my faith and humbled by its
reminder that every life is part of a larger story. (Applause.) I've
learned how crucial it is for the American President to lead with
clarity and purpose. And Presidents from Lincoln to Roosevelt to
Reagan so clearly demonstrated, a President must not shift with the
wind. A President should make the tough decisions and stand by them.
(Applause.) The role of a President is not to follow the path of the
latest polls; he role of a President is to lead based on principle and
conviction and conscience. (Applause.)

During these four years, I've learned that whatever your strengths
are, you're going to need them, and whatever your shortcomings are,
people will notice him. (Laughter.) Sometimes I'm a little too
blunt. I get that from my mother. (Applause.) Sometimes I mangle the
English language. I get that from my father. (Laughter.) But all the
time, no matter whether you agree with me or not, you know where I
stand, what I believe and where I'm going to lead. (Applause.)

You cannot say that about my opponent.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: I think it is fair to say that consistency is not
his strong suit. (Applause.) I look at an issue and take a principled
stand. As we've learned in this campaign, my opponent looks at an
issue and tries to take every side. The people of Florida know the
difference. (Applause.) And on Tuesday, Florida will vote for strong
leadership and send me and Dick Cheney back to Washington. (Applause.)

This election comes down to a clear choices on five vital issues --
issues facing every family in our country. The first clear choice
concerns your family budget. When I ran for President four years ago I
pledged to lower taxes for our families. I kept my word. (Applause.)
We doubled the child credit. We reduced the marriage penalty. We
believe the code ought to encourage marriage, not penalize marriage.
(Applause.) We dropped the lowest bracket to 10 percent. And as a
result of these good policies, real after-tax income -- the money in
your pocket, the money you have available for spending -- is up by
about 10 percent since I took office. (Applause.)

And this economy of ours has been through a lot. The stock market
was in serious decline six months prior to my arrival. Then we had a
recession and corporate scandals and an attack on our country that cost
us a million jobs in three months after September the 11th.

But we acted. And our policies are paying off. Our economy is
growing at rates as fast as any in nearly 20 years. We've added 1.9
million jobs in the last 13 months. Home ownership rate is at an
all-time high. (Applause.) More minority families own a home than
ever before in our history. (Applause.) The entrepreneurial spirit is
strong. Our small businesses are flourishing. Florida's farmers and
ranchers are making a good living. (Applause.) The unemployment rate
is 5.4 percent across this country. Let me put that in perspective for
you: That's lower than the average rate of the 1970s, the 1980s, and
the 1990s. The unemployment rate in the great state of Florida is 4.5
percent. This economy is strong, and it is getting stronger.
(Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: That's in 20 years. That's five times a year,
nearly. I would call that a predictable pattern, a leading indicator.
In this campaign, he's also promised $2.2 trillion of new spending.
That is trillion with a "T." That's a lot, even for a senator from
Massachusetts. (Laughter.)

They asked him how he's going to pay for it. He threw out that
same old, tired line: we're going to tax the rich. By raising the top
two brackets, you raise between $600 billion and $800 billion. That's
far short of the $2.2 trillion. There is a tax gap. And given his
record, guess who he's going to ask to fill it? You. The good news
is, we're not going to let him tax you. We will carry Florida and win
on November the 2nd. (Applause.)

The second clear choice in this election involves the quality of
life for our nation's families. I ran for President to challenge and
end the soft bigotry of low expectations by reforming our schools. I
kept my word. (Applause.) We passed education reforms to bring high
standards to the classrooms of America. Math and reading scores are
up. We're closing an achievement gap for minority students across this
country. My vision for a new term is to build on these reforms and
extend them to our high schools so that no child is left behind in
America. (Applause.)

We will continue to improve our lives for our families by making
health care more available and affordable. We'll expand health savings
accounts. We will allow small businesses to join together so they can
buy insurance at the same discounts that big companies are able to do.
We'll help our families in need. We'll help patients and doctors by
getting rid of the frivolous and junk lawsuits that are running docs
out of practice and running up your medical. (Applause.)

I'm standing with the families of Florida. I'm standing with the
doctors of Florida. I am for medical liability reform now.
(Applause.) In all we do to improve the health care for our families,
we will make sure the decisions are made by doctors and patients, not
by officials in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)

My opponent has a different approach. He voted for the education
reform, but now wants to weaken the accountability standards. He's
proposing a big government health care plan. You might remember in the
debate, they said, talk about your health care plan. He looked
straight in the camera and he said, the government doesn't have
anything to do with it. I could barely contain myself. (Laughter.)
The government has got a lot to do with it. Eighty percent of the
people on his plan end up on a government plan. He's voted against
medical liability reform 10 times. He's put a personal injury trial
lawyer on the ticket.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: He can run from his record, but he cannot hide.
(Applause.)

The third clear choice in this election involves your retirement.
Our nation has made a solemn commitment to America's seniors on Social
Security and Medicare. When I ran for President four years ago, I
promised to keep that commitment and improve Medicare by adding
prescription drug coverage. I kept my word. (Applause.) Seniors are
getting discounts on medicine with drug discount cards. Low-income
seniors are getting help to pay for their prescription. And beginning
in 2006, all seniors will be able to get prescription drug coverage
through Medicare. (Applause.)

My opponent has a record on this issue. He voted against the
Medicare bill that included prescription drug coverage. In this
campaign, he said he promised to repeal the bill. And then shortly
thereafter, he promised to keep it. That sounds familiar. He also
tries to scare our seniors about their Social Security, but he
conveniently forgets that he's the one that voted eight times for
higher taxes on Social Security benefits. He can run, but he cannot
hide. (Applause.)

I've kept the promise of Social Security for our seniors, and I
will always keep the promise of Social Security for our seniors. But I
understand we have a problem for the younger generation coming up.
Baby boomers like me, and some others I see out there, are in pretty
good shape when it comes to Social Security. But we need to worry
about the younger folks. That's why I believe younger workers ought to
be able to take some of their own payroll taxes and set up a personal
savings account, a personal savings account they call their own.
(Applause.)

In a new term, I'll bring people together to strengthen Social
Security for generations to come.

The fourth clear choice in this elections are on the values that
are so crucial to keeping our families strong. I stand for marriage
and family, which are the foundations of our society. (Applause.) I
stand for a culture of life in which every person counts and every
being matters. I proudly signed the ban on partial birth abortion.
(Applause.) I stand for the appointment of federal judges who know the
difference between personal opinion and the strict interpretation of
the law. (Applause.)

On these issues, my opponent and I are miles apart. He said he
would only appoint judges who pass his liberal litmus test. He was
part of an extreme minority that voted against the Defense of Marriage
Act, and he voted against the ban on partial birth abortion.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: There is a mainstream in American politics, and
John Kerry sits on the far left bank. He can run from his liberal
record, but he cannot hide. (Applause.)

The final choice in this election is the most important one of all
because it concerns the security of your family. All progress on every
other issue depends on the safety of our citizens. The most solemn
duty of the American President is to protect the American people. If
America shows uncertainty or weakness during these troubled times, the
world will drift toward tragedy. This is not going to happen on my
watch. (Applause.)

Our strategy is clear. We are strengthening protections for the
homeland. We are reforming and strengthening our intelligence
capabilities. We are transforming the United States military. The
all-volunteer army will remain an all-volunteer army. There will be no
draft. (Applause.) We are determined; we are relentless. We will
stay on the offensive. We are fighting the terrorists abroad so we do
not have to face them here at home. (Applause.)

And we're succeeding. Afghanistan is an ally in the war on
terror. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are making raids and arrests. Libya
is dismantling its weapons programs, The army of a free Iraq is
fighting for freedom, and al Qaeda no longer controls territory like
Afghanistan. They no longer have training camps there. We are
systematically destroying the al Qaeda network across the world. More
than three-quarters of al Qaeda's key members and associates have been
brought to justice, and the rest of them know, we are on their trail.
(Applause.)

The leader must be consistent. The leader must not send mixed
signals to the world. My opponent has taken a different approach.
Senator Kerry says that we're better off with Saddam Hussein out of
power, except when he says that removing Saddam made us less safe. He
said in our second debate that he always believed Saddam was a threat,
except, a few questions later, when he insisted Saddam Hussein was not
a threat. He said he was right when he voted to authorize the use of
force against Saddam Hussein, but I was wrong to use force to remove
Saddam Hussein.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: The problems of Senator Kerry's record on national
security are deeper than election-year reversals. For 20 years, on the
largest national security issues of our time, he has been consistently
wrong. During the Cold War, Senator Kerry voted against critical
weapons systems and opposed Ronald Reagan's policy of peace through
strength. History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong and President
Ronald Reagan was right. (Applause.)

When former President Bush assembled an international coalition to
drive Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, Senator Kerry voted against the use
of force to liberate Kuwait.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong, and
former President Bush was right. (Applause.)

One year after the bombing, the first bombing of the World Trade
Center, the Senator proposed massive cuts in America's intelligence, so
massive that even his fellow Massachusetts liberal, Ted Kennedy, would
not support them. History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong and
-- let's be fair about it -- Senator Kennedy was right. (Applause.)

We will be relentless, we will be strong, we will be consistent in
our security in securing this country. And we've got a great United
States military to help. (Applause.)

I thank those who wear our nation's uniform who are with us today.
(Applause.) I thank the military families who are here with us today.
(Applause.) And I thank the veterans who have set such a great example
for those who wear the uniform. (Applause.) I assure you, we'll keep
our commitment I made to the troops and their families and to our
vets. We will make sure our troops have all the resources they need to
complete their missions.

That is why I went to the Congress in September of 2003 and asked
for $87 billion of supplemental funding. It was important funding, it
was necessary funding. It was funding to support troops in harm's way
in both Iraq and Afghanistan. And we received great bipartisan support
for that funding, so strong only 12 members of the United States Senate
voted against it, two of whom were my opponent and his running mate.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: Senator Kerry said on national TV prior to that
vote that it would be irresponsible to vote against the troops. Then
the polls began to change and he did the irresponsible thing, and he
voted against the troops. Then he entered the flip-flop hall of fame,
by saying, I actually did vote for the $87 billion right before I voted
against it. He's given a lot of answers since then about that vote,
but I think the most revealing of all is when he said, the whole thing
was a complicated matter. (Laughter.) My fellow Americans, there's
nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat. (Applause.)

We have differences on how to best protect America's families.
During one of the debates, my opponent said that America must pass a
global test before we commit troops.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: Some of you probably think I'm making that up. I
heard him. He was standing right there. You see, to me that means
that we've got to get permission before we get troops. I'll work with
our allies. I'll continue to build alliances. But I will never turn
over America's national security decisions to leaders of other
countries. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

THE PRESIDENT: A couple of weeks ago, Senator Kerry said that
September the 11th didn't change him much at all. September the 11th
changed me. It changed my outlook about what we need to do to protect
this country. A few days after that attack, I stood in the ruins of
the Twin Towers, on September the 14th, 2001. It was a day I'll never
forget. I'll never forget the sights and sounds. I will never forget
the workers in hard hats who were yelling at me at the top of their
lungs, "Whatever it takes." I'll never forget the person that grabbed
me by the arm and he looked me in the eye, and he said, "Do not let me
down." Ever since that day, I wake up every morning trying to figure
out how to better protect this country. I will never relent in the
security of America, whatever it takes. (Applause.)

During the next four years --

AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

THE PRESIDENT: During the next four years, we will use every asset
at our disposal to wage a comprehensive strategy to defend you. And
perhaps the strongest asset we have is freedom. (Applause.) I believe
in the power of liberty to transform nations. Free nations do not
breed resentments. Free nations do not export terror. Free nations
become allies in the war on terror. And by spreading freedom, we'll
achieve the peace we all want for our children and our grandchildren.
(Applause.)

I want the younger folks here to think about what's happened in
Afghanistan in just three years. Society there was grim under the
reign of the Taliban. These people were ideologues of hate. Young
girls couldn't go to school. If their mothers didn't toe the line
they'd get whipped in the public square, and sometimes executed in the
sports stadium. But because we acted to defend ourselves, because we
upheld a doctrine that said, if you harbor a terrorist, you're equally
as guilty as the terrorist, millions of people in that country went to
the polls to vote for President. And the first voter was a 19-year-old
woman. (Applause.)

Iraq is still dangerous. It's a dangerous place because that
country is headed toward a free society. There will be elections in
January. Think how far that country has come from the days of torture
chambers and mass graves. Freedom is on the march, and America and the
world are better for it. (Applause.) I believe everybody yearns to be
free. Freedom is not America's gift to the world; freedom is the
Almighty God's gift to each man and woman in this world. (Applause.)

These are historic times and a lot is at stake in this election.
The future safety and prosperity of America are on the ballot.
Ultimately, though, this election comes down to who you can trust --
who you can trust to keep your families secure; who you can trust to
spread prosperity. I proudly offer a record of leadership and results
at a time of threat and challenge.

If you believe that taxes should stay low so families can pay the
bills and small businesses can create new jobs, I ask, come stand with
me. (Applause.) If you believe in high standards for our public
schools, I ask you, come stand with me. (Applause.) If you believe
patients and doctors should be in charge of health care, I ask you,
come stand with me. (Applause.) If you believe that this nation must
honor the commitments of Medicare and strengthen Social Security for
generations to come, I ask, come stand with me. (Applause.)

If you believe that this nation should honor marriage and family
and make a place for the weak and the vulnerable, I ask you, come stand
with me. (Applause.) If you believe America should fight the war on
terror with all our might and lead with unwavering confidence in our
ideals, I ask you to come stand with me. (Applause.)

If you are a Democrat who believes your party has turned too far to
the left this year, I ask you to come stand with me. (Applause.) If
you are a minority citizen and you believe that free enterprise -- in
good schools and enduring values of family and faith, and if you're
tired of your vote being taken for granted, I ask you to come stand
with me. (Applause.) If you are a voter who believes that the
President of the United States should say what he means and do what he
says and keep his word, I ask you to come stand with me. (Applause.)

Four years ago when I traveled your state asking for the vote, I
made a pledge that if elected, I would uphold the honor and the dignity
of the office. With your help, with your hard work, I will do so for
four more years.